Jo Lavender maintained: "It's not that hard to cancel. Just lazy folks."

Karen Johnson said: "People should be billed a tenner for each missed appointment unless they call to cancel beforehand."

Angela Wind commented: "(They should) if there is no valid reason."

However, some people had reservations over introducing a fine system and how it might work.

Gemma Errington said she supported the idea of introducing fines but that health service providers must make sure their systems were accurate and working well.

"I got a letter from my GP surgery recently saying I hadn’t attended two appointments and cost the NHS x amount of money. I had rung up myself and cancelled both of them," she said.

Mark Kenny said: "I got sent a written letter notifying of me of my appointment. They sent the letter the day before the appointment, so I received it as I got in from work on the evening of the day my appointment was.

"The NHS needs to update that system. That was not my fault.

"I fully support that the NHS needs funding - I do believe that this instance was more a symptom of how stretched the NHS is and how they need funding to update the operational systems."

Christopher Ingram added: "(I agree with it) as long as it doesn’t outweigh both the lost time and the cost of administration to follow it through."